Ball projecting machines are widely used by both professional and non-professional athletes for baseball and softball batting practice. Conventional ball projecting or pitching machines typically include either one wheel or two counter-rotating wheels or discs that engage a ball and project the ball toward its intended target. In baseball or softball, ball projecting machines are often used to simulate a pitched ball or a batted ball. When simulating a pitched ball, the ball projecting machine is used to project a ball toward an awaiting batter standing 30 to 60 feet away from the pitching machine. It is often desirable for the pitching machine to accurately place a projected or pitched ball into the batter's strike zone, a portion of the batter's strike zone or to a location just outside of the batter's strike zone. When simulating a batted ball, ball projecting machines are typically used to simulate ground balls, line-drives, pop-ups fly-balls, and other batted ball paths in a variety of heights, directions and speeds. Accordingly, such ball projecting machines often include adjustment capabilities for altering the pitch location or location of the projected ball. Such adjustments are typically achieved by loosening locking handles and then moving the ball projecting head, by hand, on one or more axis points to position the head to throw the type of pitch (spin angle) to the desired location. The ball projecting heads are typically rather sizeable and often heavy thereby making rapid and/or fine adjustments to the ball projecting machine difficult. The user sets the ball projecting head at about the position the user believes is correct, locks it into position, and then turns the machine on to throw pitches or project balls.
After one or more test pitches, the user typically needs to readjust the pitch location by making minor adjustments to move the pitch to the left or right or up or down. Each adjustment requiring loosening and tighting of the locking handles. When simulating batted balls to a one or more players, a user typically desires to rapidly and easily reposition the ball projecting head, to achieve different ball flights for various training exercises or drills.
Adjusting the position of the ball projecting head on conventional pitching machines is an inexact science, with the movements being awkward and often difficult to maneuver. Thus, the adjustments often drastically overshoot or undershoot the desired location. Consequently, this adjustment process often requires numerous tries of locking and unlocking until the machine is throwing to the desired location or series of locations.
It would thus be desirable to provide a ball projecting machine that is capable of being adjusted smoothly and easily to simulate a pitched ball or various paths of batted balls. What is needed is a ball projecting machine that can be rapidly and accurately repositioned to a plurality of positions thereby allowing balls to be projected in a variety of different locations